USA TODAY: Here's a new way to attack spyware: embarrass its purveyors. A free website (StopBadware.org) plans to provide a list of programs that contain spyware and other malicious software. It will also identify companies that develop the programs and distribute them on the Internet. Consumers can then decide if a program is safe to download. "For too long, these companies have been able to hide in the shadows of …
An Ethicist’s Look At Buzz
Thanks to Spike Jones at Brains On Fire for pointing us to this Miami Herald article on buzz marketing by Edward Wasserman, professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University. Advocates do rhapsodize about all this with the fervor of real conviction, as the height of authenticity, a way to empower the lowly grassroots of the buying public. It brings a lump to the throat. The website of buzzmarketing.com …
Corona Opts For Vanity Placement
NYT: Corona Extra, the best-selling imported beer in America, is buying big twin signs on 1600 Broadway, the new 27-story building at 48th Street owned by Sherwood Equities. The signs, which are scheduled to go up on Monday, each measure about 92 feet high by 35 feet wide and show open bottles of Corona with limes wedged into the necks. The signs will face south, toward the big Budweiser sign attached to 1 Times …
What A Girl Wants
Here's a tip: Getting a girl to desire your product isn't that different from getting a girl to desire you. So if it didn't work in your dating life, don't try it in your print ad. So says This BusinessWeek article about marketing to teenage girls. It was written by 3iYing, an all-female market and design strategy firm that specializes in marketing to girls ages 15 to 25. But the interesting part of the article is …
Will You Listen To This Guy?
Let me say up front, the person who wrote this classified ad once hired, then quickly fired, me. I don't hate him, but I would not be doing my job here if I let this ego-fueled drivel go unremarked upon. This is a chance to be part of a small award-winning creative staff (One Show pencils, CA, et al) headed by Minneapolis-bred, award-winning, veteran CD who has been in Denver for 7 years. Denver may be the scrappiest …
If It Matters, Do It Right
Random Culture doesn't think too highly of Ad Age's new let's-jump-on-the-podwagon cast. I'd love to be able to post here about someone doing podcasting right, but the bad ones keep popping up. Advertising Age is not an exception. They've launched a podcast called "Why it Matters", and I have to say, I'm let down by the quality of it. The sound is pretty atrocious, and it makes the podcast come off as a very amateur …
There’s Money In Buzz
News.com: BzzAgent, one of the world's leading word-of-mouth marketing firms, said Friday that it closed a $13.75 million series-B round of funding. The marketing company, which has clients such as Anheuser-Busch, Cadbury Schweppes, Ralph Lauren and Levi's Dockers, uses what it calls buzz-marketing strategies to build consumer interest in products. Buzz marketing is unlike traditional marketing, the company said, …
The Mashup Is The Message
NYT: For decades, nearly every gathering of media or technology executives has defined the future in a single word: convergence. What exactly was converging remained in dispute, but most saw some combination of television, computers and an intelligent network that would give consumers much more control. For once, the visionaries were right. Video is popping up on cellphones, iPods, TiVo's and Web sites. And as for …